Bridges
by ameritastic
Summary: Corvo has a choice to make with Emily, but also with the Outsider. Post game.


"Did you do it because you're still a loyal servant of the Empress? Or because you have a thirst for being superior?" Corvo frowned, looking straight into the eyes of the deity before him, the glowing black and red shrine behind him still buzzing.

"Or perhaps even you do not know." Corvo looked away to the wall beside the shrine.

"I killed Daud because he killed the empress and kidnapped Emily." Corvo said with feigned certainty. He looked back to the god before him, realizing that he had just told a half truth as a whole truth, and the Outsider knew it.

"That is not entirely true, is it, Corvo?" Corvo blinked, his hand twitching slightly beside him. Although they both knew there was more to it, than that, Corvo didn't have to believe it. He didn't have to think about it.

"It's true if I believe it is, Outsider." He said in a neutral tone.

"We believe what we wish to." The Outsider concluded, placing his hands behind his back with a sigh. "But won't you tell me the whole truth?"

Corvo's eyes flickered from the gods left eye to his right, right to left, trying to find a way out of this.

"He might have tried to kill Emily."

"Although this would suffice, that is also not true." The Outsider stepped down from the shrine, his feet just touching the floor. He stepped closer to Corvo, leaning in slightly.

"Are you trying to hide your guilt? Guilt for what, I wonder." The man in question crossed his arms, backing away a few feet from the deity.

"I have no guilt for what I've done." He refused to look the other in the eyes.

Outsider made a sound of mild amusement, "Perhaps not." He stepped closer to Corvo, and this time Corvo didn't back away.

Outsider lowered his voice, looking at Corvo with a hint of endearment, "Are you chasing something, Corvo?" Outsider lifted his hand and placed it upon the others cheeks, his eyes searching for answers and yet holding a concern for the human man. "Or are you running away?"

Corvo pushed his hand away, but then frowned. With a slight hesitation, he pulled the Outsider's hand back, holding his own hand over it.

"Outsider?" Corvo look down at his feet, a deep frown on his face.

Outsider hummed, a slightly confused, slightly amused expression on his face. He stepped closer so his arm didn't become uncomfortable in the others hold.

"I'm chasing who I once was. I'm hunting the Lord Protector Corvo, the loyal, smart man. Yet, that is not me anymore. I can't be who I was. That is what I'm running away from. This vengeful person I have become isn't me. Or at least, I don't want it to be. Emily knows me as strong and kind, not as ruthless and cold." Corvo clutched the Outsider's hand tighter, his expression becoming clouded.

"Corvo, dear Corvo," The Outsider moved his hand from the others grasp, running it along his jawline to grasp the others chin in between his thumb and forefinger gently, "You are whoever you wish to be."

Corvo pulled away, dropping his hand to his side. "I can only be who I want to be, if I have the power to change myself."

The Outsider stepped back from Corvo, dropping his hand as well, thinking over his words, "Perhaps. But maybe it's not that difficult, or maybe this is who you are supposed to be, for Emily."

"Emily doesn't need a supernatural assassin as her Lord Protector." He protested, tapping his foot on the floor in frustration.

"I would say I should step down from my position, but no one else could protect her like I could."

"You're right, no one could protect her like you. That is why it should not matter whether you are cold or kind, as long as your Empress is safe. I'm sure when Emily comes of age, she will understand." The Outsider studied Corvo, his hair blowing across his face gently, shielding his eyes and any emotion the god would have seen.

"Her heart is still pure, Outsider. She might never see the necessity of it all." Corvo dropped his head, propping it up slightly with his hand on his forehead.

"Perhaps not, but there is time yet. Her future has not yet arrived. You do not yet know who she will be later on."

Corvo was silent, trying not to think closed minded. The Outsider was right, Emily is still young, she doesn't know by what means he toke to place her upon the throne, and when it is time she should, she may or may not understand. Yet, either way, as long as she is safe.

"You'll cross that bridge when it presents itself, Corvo." The Outsider clicked his tongue.

"So I shall."

"Emily please! You have to understand!" Corvo begged quietly, walking swiftly behind his Empress as she stormed across the gazebo.

"There is nothing to understand. How many people did you kill, Corvo? Dozens? Hundreds?" Emily sneered, refusing to even face her Lord Protector.

"They would have manipulated you for power, they would have driven you insane! I had to do something! I couldn't just sit by and watch you become corrupt, unknowingly, Emily."

It's been eight years since Emily toke the thrown, and a few weeks since she has come of age, and a few minutes since she discovered how she was placed on the throne.

It has also been eight years since the Outsider last contacted him. Eight years of silence, although he has stopped looking for Runes, since he has been quite busy being Lord Protector.

"How did you know they would have controlled me? How do you know they would have been able to?" The Empress protested, finally turning around to stare Corvo dead in the eyes

"Because you were only ten years old, and they used me to get to you! They almost killed you, Emily!"

"Perhaps it would have been better that way, then I wouldn't have to be protected by a murderous assassin touched by the Outsider." She spat at Corvo, stepping closer to him, so close that Corvo could see the specs in her eyes.

"Maybe if I died that day, I, and this entire Empire would have had the pleasure in watching you burn, in watching you fall apart to nothing." Emily breathed in heavily and lifted her palm, her face blazing in anger. Emily hesitated and breathed out, clenching her fist before dropping it.

"Leave me." She hissed, turning away from her Lord Protector.

Corvo stood there few a few more moments, a defeat expression plastered on his face. You'll cross that bridge when it presents itself. The Outsiders words echo.

How was he supposed to cross this?

As he turns to leave, he misses the glance Emily shots at him, but he feels it.

It doesn't feel nice.

Corvo wonders around the streets of the Palace for a long while, thinking over what he told the Empress and what the Empress told him. He tries his best to ignore the angry and scared looks from guards and civilians he walks by. Either because he, assumably, looks quite livid, or because he has been touched by the Outsider, doesn't cross Corvo's mind. The only look of disgust that crossed his mind is the Empresses.

The Outsider's words flow between his ears, how the god had made Corvo believe that Emily would understand. Yet, perhaps that was Corvo's fault. Maybe he shouldn't have trusted himself and just never told Emily the truth.

When Corvo finally returned to his quarters, he was exhausted. Too exhausted to punch anything. Too exhausted to be upset any longer. To exhausted to even undress, so instead he just falls onto his bed and closes his eyes, praying for sleep to greet him.

"It's been too long, Corvo, my dear." A neutral voice whispers beside him. A cold, yet warm hand places itself on the lower part of Corvo's back, its thumb moving from side to side soothingly.

"Outsider." Corvo sighs, his body relaxing at the touch, his mind much too exhausted for him to think about lifting his head to look at the man he hadn't realized he had missed.

"She'll understand in due time, believe me. Please lift your head." Outsider murmurs, moving his hand from the others back to his hand by his head, clasping it carefully.

Corvo lifted himself slowly, turning his hand over to tangle his fingers with the others, but refusing to lift his head and look at him.

"Why did you leave for so long? I know I stopped collecting Runes, but even so, I've needed your guidance." Corvo said shakily, crossing his legs under him. He leaned over to place his head on the gods shoulder, feeling confused but slightly less exhausted.

"You no longer needed my words, nor me." The Outsider said it as if it was an opinion and not a fact.

"Bullshit." Corvo said with emotion. The Outsider moved to sit on the edge of the bed, in front of Corvo. He brought his other arm to wrap around the human man.

Corvo clenched the end of the Outsiders shirt between his fingers, leaning closer into the god.

"Eight years," Corvo let go of the others shirt and threw his arms around the brown haired god, "What if you aren't even real? Why would you come back after eight years?"

The Outsider frowned, rubbing circles on the hand he was still holding, "Of course I'm real."

Corvo woke with a start, sweat beading down his forehead.

This time, he wasn't too exhausted to punch something.

Yet, before he could punch anything, his eyes wondered to the desecrated room he sat in, a large hole in one wall, only to open to a stairway and open air.

And a tall, brown haired, black eyed god standing at the foot of his bed.

The Outsider stepped closer to him, placing his hand on Corvo's cheek.

"Of course I'm real."

Corvo placed his own hand over the others, grasping it with relief.

"Of course you're real." He murmured to himself.

The Outsider smiled sadly, leaning in so far that their noses were touching, "I missed you." He breathed, tilting his head so their lips touched, cold meeting warm in an electric shock. A first kiss, long overdue.

The Outsider brought his other hand and placed it on Corvo's other cheek, looking him in his eyes.

"Corvo? Stay here with me, please?"


End file.
